Growth of AgBr/Ag3PO4 Heterojunction on Chitosan Fibers for Degrading Organic Pollutants

Using Fiber as the based material for photocatalyst particles is favorable for their recovery, thereby avoiding the photocatalyst particles cause secondary pollution to water environment. In this work, the AgBr and Ag3PO4 photocatalyst particles were loaded onto the surface of chitosan fiber (CF) via chelation and in situ anion-exchange method. The photocatalytic results illustrated that the AgBr/Ag3PO4/CF composites displayed the best photocatalytic performance when the mass ratio of Ag3PO4 and AgBr onto the CF was approximately 1:0.15, their degradation rate can reach 98.1% for the methyl orange (MO) solution, this value far exceeded those of pure CF, AgBr/CF composites, and Ag3PO4/CF composites. Besides, the AgBr/Ag3PO4/CF composites also shown excellent durability, after the fifth cycle, they still maintained a decolorization rate of 86.4% for the MO solution, while the Ag3PO4/CF composites maintained a decolorization rate of only 70.7%. Based on these results, we consider that the AgBr/Ag3PO4/CF composites have high practical interest in environmental remediation.